Tuesday 31 May 2016

War vets can have Mnangagwa as Zanu PF leader but cannot impose him on the nation. By Patrick Guramatunhu


“You must be careful of people who speak with a forked tongue and, whatever happens, you must never give in to the temptation of being one such person yourself,” my late mother used to warn us. “The world is full of conman would take you for a ride at your expense and often they become victims of their own deception.”

 

Asia for the Asians!” was Japan’s slogan and excuse for fighting in the Second World War to drive the Americans, British and other western nations out of Asia in a straight swap of one colonial power for another. Forget all the black nationalists’ rhetoric of fighting for freedom, justice and human rights; just like the Japanese, President Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leaders were fighting to replace the whites as the new lord of the manor.

 

It took the average black Zimbabwean ten years or so after independence to accept that they were second class citizen whose freedoms, human rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance and even the right to life itself were routinely denied by the ruling elite.  After 36 years of corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF rule with millions now languishing in abject poverty and over 30 000 murdered by the regime in pursuit of its selfish agenda of staying in power at all cost; there can be no doubt that Zanu PF leaders spoke with a forked tongue and they still do to this day.

 

“When you went to war (ex-combatants) you were very young but you remain resolute, but up to now you don’t have anything to show (for it). All I see is poverty written on your faces,” war veterans leader Chris Mutsvangwa to his members in Masvingo las week, according to a Daily News report.

 

 

“But we have seen the bad part of not rewarding ourselves, the G40 is doing whatever they want with us because they corruptly acquired wealth.”

 

 

The notable thing here is how Zanu PF leaders like Mutsvangwa have again and again expressed their concern about poverty amongst the war vets but have refused to even acknowledge that millions of ordinary Zimbabweans too are wallowing in poverty. Worse still these Zanu PF leaders have refused to acknowledge that root cause of the country’s economic mess is because for the last 36 years the ruling elite have allowed mismanagement and corruption to grow and spread precisely because they were “rewarding” themselves.

 

 

Whatever quarrel Mutsvangwa has with the G40 faction it is nonsensical to blame the later for the war veterans’ poverty given the faction only emerged in August 2014, long after the nation’s economic decline was well established. Worse still Mutsvangwa and his fellow war veterans are deluding themselves if they believe imposing Mnangagwa, just as they have imposed President Mugabe on the nation, is the panacea to their economic poverty. It will take a lot more than swapping one dictator for another to achieve meaningful economic recovery.

 

 

“The president acknowledged that we are the ones who gave him that position, we the war veterans and war collaborators, we campaigned for him to win elections in 1980,” said Mutsvangwa. President Mugabe acknowledged the war vets’ contribution in the 2008 run-off where President Mugabe used wanton violence to force the people to vote for him. The war vets were the regime’s storm troopers then and have been ever since.

 

 

“We the war veterans, are the compass of this country, isu toziva ichi (chigaro) kwachinoenda (we know who is going to take over).”

 

 

My late mother would have never guessed that self-deception could have more tragic consequences than is seen in Zimbabwe today; the whole nation is already up to its eyes in this man-made cesspit after 36 years of Zanu PF misrule but instead of those responsible seeing the serious shortcomings they still believe they “are the compass” of the nation. We are completely lost because the compass, the maps, etc. are all wrong!

 

 

The right to a meaningful vote is a right, not a privilege to be granted to some and denied others by war veterans and Zanu PF leaders. But most important of all, the right to a meaningful vote is the heart and soul of good and competent government. Given the economic mess the country is in after 36 years of Zanu PF misrule it is imperative that the people now claim their right to a meaningful vote with resolve and refuse to be detracted by misguided individuals like Mutsvangwa whose ego is blinding them from seeing themselves as the corrupt and incompetent individuals they are.

 

 

If the ordinary person has been short changed all these last 36 years because they played a small or no part in the liberation way, then it is time they played their part be demanding the full implementation of the democratic reforms to restore all their individual freedoms and rights. The right to a meaningful say in who is going to rule Zimbabwe from now is everyone’s right and not a preserve of war veterans alone – that is no negotiable!

6 comments:

  1. Whilst the no one is thrilled with the prospect of removing one tyrant and replace him with his wife, the nation is not thrilled with replacing the tyrant with his assistant either.

    What these war vets should have understood is that they do not have the monopoly to knowledge and wisdom as to who is competent to rule the nation and who is not competent. After 36 years of failed leadership these war vets still behave as if they still have that divine insight; they have learnt absolutely nothing in all these years.

    The one thing that we must make sure these war vets understand absolutely is that they role in creating the Mugabe dictatorship was unforgivable because it was not for them to help Mugabe deny the people their freedoms and basic human rights. What is more significant right now is that the war vets must stop right away denying the ordinary people their right to free and fair elections is a serious offense and will not be tolerated for one more day!

    We do not want another tyrant, period!

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  2. I cannot believe that we have people like Mutsvangwa who still believe that because they fought in the war of liberation they are superior to everyone so superior they are not only entitled to all the freedoms and human rights but their entitlement extends to denying everyone else their freedoms and basic rights. 36 years after independence we have to fight for our freedoms and basic rights.

    "We the war veterans, are the compass of this country, isu toziva ichi (chigaro) kwachinoen-da (we know who is going to take over)," said Mutsvangwa.
    He really believe the war vets are the "compass" of the nation and after 36 years of doing the dirty work of a murderous tyrant the idiot still believes he knows best!
    Much as the nation is fighting to end President Mugabe's corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical dictatorship and his political machination to impose his wife the nation must be alart against a rear guard action by miss guided idiots like Mutsvangwa who oppose the Mugabe dictatorship but only because they want to impose another dictator of their own choosing.



    Mnangagwa is as much a part and parcel of this Zanu PF dictatorship as Mugabe himself. Mnangagwa played a major role in the Gukurahundi massacre and he was Mugabe's right hand man in the vote rigging that has kept the regime in power. How can the nation trust such a ruthless cheat and murderer to hold the highest office in the land.



    People like Mutsvangwa must be told in no uncertain terms that when it comes to electing the next president he and his fellow war veterans will have one vote the same with everyone else. An attempts to deny the people a free and fair democratic vote will be resisted and all those guilty of this treasonous act will be held to account. Enough is enough of this I am a war vet and therefore special bull s**t!

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  3. Mutsvangwa is determined to stop President Mugabe handing over power to his wife and few thinking Zimbabweans would object to that. What Mutsvangwa must understand is the nation will strongly object to removing Mugabe only to replace him with Mnangagwa, another dictator. What the nation objects to and will not compromise is the present political system that denies the ordinary people a meaningful say in who will be the next president.


    The nation is fighting for democratic change and if Mutsvangwa thinks he can still impose Mnangagwa on the nation then he has something else coming.


    We should be engage in other matters such as how to revive the national economy and not be dragged back into this grade one stuff of basic freedom and human rights. Now that we are here, we must deal with the matter decisively once and once for all!


    People like Mutsvangwa must be told in no uncertain terms that being a war veteran does not make him superior to the rest of the population, he does not have all the answers and he certainly does not have the power to deny others their birthright to freedom, liberty and basic human rights. The idiot must be made to understand that these things are not negotiable!

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    Replies
    1. This is one of the tragic consequence of having a dictatorship the nation never get the chance to learn from its own mistake because there is no meaningful debate before the event or after.


      Still the fact that everyone has the right to a meaningful free and fair vote is something that has been discussed to no end, the war of liberation was about that and so Mutsvangwa and all these rogue war veterans have no excuse for terrorizing the people. Even Mutsvangwa has to admit that proclaiming himself and his fellow thugs the "stockholders" of Zimbabwe is a nonsense. There are thousands of war veterans, myself included, who have never subscribed to the notion that freedom fighters have the right to deny others their freedoms and rights.


      Mutsvangwa is the counter revolutionary in that he is now standing for the very thing the war of independence set out to end - the oppression of man by man!

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  4. @ Msiyanwa

    Our mercenary Mutsvangwa and his ilk of misguided war veterans' fight is with President Mugabe and those in the G40 faction, he blames them for not giving him and the war veterans their share of the looted wealth. What Mutsvangwa is conviniently forgetting is that Mnangagwa and the rest of the ruling election in the faction are just as guilty of looting and not shareing out the loot as the G40.



    Worst of all Mutsvangwa and his fellow war veteran thugs have failed to see that the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship was doomed to fail because by its very nature looting is wasteful and no nation on earth has ever prospered by being wasteful.



    What people like Mutsvangwa want is that the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship must continue and he and his thugs get to say who will lead the new dictatorship. What must be hammered into Mutsvangwa and his thugs' heads is that Zimbabwe is going to end the dictatorship so every Zimbabwean will have a meaningful say in who becomes the next president.

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